


Those Damn Witches

by Mellow (SweetCandy)



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alpha Derek Hale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Author peter hale, Book Nerd Stiles Stilinski, Books, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Claudia Stilinski Memories, Falling In Love, Feels, Fluff, Good Peter Hale, Grown up pack, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Sane Peter Hale, Secrets, Witches, older pack
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-05-20 16:08:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19380139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetCandy/pseuds/Mellow
Summary: “You’re obsessed.“ Was the first thing Scott said and Stiles simply scoffed at that.He wasn’t obsessed, he was merely…extremely emotionally invested. Like, his interest had been captured and he had every right to gather as much as possible about this new source of interest as possible. Yeah, in fact, his mind had been kidnapped by his ‘obsession’ so it wasn’t even his fault if he was a little bit…too…’obsessed’ with it.“Am not!” He denied, while he continued to stare at his laptop screen, eyes glued to the same headline that had turned his whole day around.Cannonics announces book release from bestselling author Lee P. Raeth!-Or: After 7 years, Stiles' favorite author finally releases a new book and all he wants to do is read it in peace. But instead, a witch wreaks havoc in the preserve and he's forced to research with Peter instead and makes a suprising discovery.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting on my computer for months and I never got around to finish it. But today I had a sudden burst of inspiration, so: Here you go.
> 
> Hopefully you'll enjoy it and stick around for the next chapter.

“You’re obsessed.“ Was the first thing Scott said and Stiles simply scoffed at that.

He wasn’t _obsessed_ , he was merely…extremely emotionally invested. Like, his interest had been captured and he had every right to gather as much as possible about this new source of interest as possible. Yeah, in fact, his mind had been _kidnapped_ by his ‘obsession’ so it wasn’t even his fault if he was a little bit…too…’obsessed’ with it.

“Am not!” He protested and tried to ignore the way Scott arched one of his eyebrows. It was such a foreign thing for Scott to do and Stiles blamed Derek and his expressive eyebrows for influencing his betas. Even Boyd already started communicating with his eyebrows and Stiles was pretty much the only one not understanding their super-secret eyebrow language. It sucked.

“Am _not_!” He repeated to get his point across, while he continued to stare at his laptop screen, eyes glued to the same headlines that had turned his whole day around.

**Cannonics announces book release from bestselling author Lee P. Raeth in August**

**‘ _Seeker’s Souls_ ’ Part 6, Publication Date CONFIRMED! **

**Lee P. Raeth fans ecstatic over author’s return after 7 year pause**

**Cannonics confirms return of Lee P. Raeth**

**Lee P. Raeth WILL continue famous book series ‘ _Seeker’s Souls_ ’**

**Rumors about film adaptions of ‘ _Seeker’s Souls_ ’ due to return of Lee P. Raeth**

“Stiles, it’s only a book.” Scott snorted from Stiles’ bed, where he lounged lazily and inspected one of the five books that were spread on the sheets. “Don’t you think you’re a little… too much in love with this guy and his books?”

“It could easily be a girl as well!” Stiles protested and turned away from his laptop. “It could be an old granny who writes these wonderful, amazing books and chose the pen name Lee P. Raeth! But that doesn’t matter to my bisexual heart because I’m in love with them whatsoever. Or rather in love with their brain and creative imagination.”

“Like I said…just a book.” Scott didn’t even bother hiding his amusement and exasperation.

“It’s not just a book, Scotty. It’s a world this genius created, an entire universe of brilliance and wisdom.” Stiles continued to be persistent. The books written by Lee P. Raeth weren’t just books to him, they were so much more.

They reminded him of his mom because she used to read them to him, all but the 5th one, which came out a year after his mom had died. Stiles had been so, so angry at the author because his mom didn’t get to read it, because she never found out what happened after the cliff hanger in the 4th book and whether or not Alexander survived and escaped the basement he was held captive in.

He had been so angry that he had refused to read the 5th book, but then eventually he had decided that he would have to read it now that his mother couldn’t. The ending was just as much of a cliffhanger as the 4th had been and when the publisher, _Cannonics_ , announced that the author would take a break from writing for an unknown amount of time, Stiles had been even angrier.

He was still angry and he had promised himself that he would punch Raeth, should he ever meet him or her, no matter if it was an old granny or a woman in her 30s or a man so old that he looked like a fucking dinosaur.

Straight afterwards Stiles would then kiss them and hug them and worship the ground they walked upon because even though he hated the fact that the books caused so much frustration, he couldn’t deny that they were fucking brilliant.

He turned around again, opened amazon on his laptop and pre-ordered the book that was about to be published in the next few weeks. He obviously chose amazon prime because he _needed_ to get the book the day it came out!

 

* * *

 

“And then it turns out that Joshua isn’t a Seeker but he’s a Void instead, who _pretended_ to be a Seeker! What a way to start a book, especially since this is crucial to the love story between Ash and Joshua because the sexual tension between the two of them has been building up since book two and _now_ it turns out that Joshua shouldn’t be able to feel love or any sympathy towards her, except if there’s another major plot twist like Voids being able to feel and-“

“Someone shut him up, _please_!” Erica groaned next to Stiles, apparently unable to take his rambling any longer. “Derek, give him the damn book back, at least he’s quiet then!” The wolf insisted, but her alpha only growled at that.

“This is a pack meeting, Erica, not a book club!” The man protested and sent Stiles a glare, just as he had done when Stiles had been reading instead of paying attention to the new patrol schedules.

They didn’t include him anyways so why was he supposed to pay attention?  
His new book had arrived that afternoon, waiting for him on the kitchen table as he returned from school, how on earth was he supposed to resist the urge to read it? It was Derek’s fault for planning a pack meeting on a Friday afternoon, Stiles had planned to spend the entire weekend reading the book, then the first five books again and the sixth one once more, until he had memorized every little detail.

“But we’re just sitting around, doing nothing. Everyone is either getting food or doing the whole tracking exercise thing, the least you could do is give it back.” Stiles crossed his arms over his chest and tried to glare back at Derek, who seemed less than impressed with his version of an angry glare. It was probably the lack of bushy eyebrows but not everybody had fucking caterpillars on their forehead.

“Dear Lord, it’s just a book.” Erica interrupted. “Please give it back, Derek, let him read, it’s the only way to shut him up.”

“Oh please, you love my ramblings.” Stiles retorted playfully and saw how Derek looked up at the ceiling as if he was praying to some higher instance to save him from these teenagers.

The alpha then stomped into the new kitchen of the freshly rebuilt Hale house and returned with the book only seconds later. Stiles saw how the alpha glanced at the cover and he was already getting up from the large couch, ready to get back his precious, but Derek froze with an expression close to stunned.

“What?” Stiles asked and hurried over to their alpha. “Did you stain it? Did you tear a page?” If yes then Stiles would create a line of mountain ash around the wolf’s bathroom, bed and fridge and let it stay there for the next three weeks.

“You read Lee P. Raeth?” Derek asked and sounded strangely strangled and a little stunned. Then again, it could be Stiles’ imagination because Derek wouldn’t be stunned by something as banal as that.

“Yes, do you have a problem with that? Because let me tell you, this guy- or girl- is a fucking genius, a God of Literature, the most talented author of this century!” Stiles defended and reached for his book.

Derek opened his mouth to answer, but before he had a chance they were interrupted by footsteps on the stairs.

“Now, now, Derek. Don’t be mean.” A smooth voice called from the hallway and of course, Peter Hale had to choose that moment to grace them with his presence. “Give dear Stiles over here his book back.” He was clad in a soft V-neck shirt and tight jeans and his hair was slightly ruffled, like he had taken a nap. Seeing the man this soft did _things_ to Stiles.

Stiles grimaced at the ‘dear’, which was just a reflex now, since he had found out that he didn’t mind the wolf’s teasing affections, but he agreed with Peter- something that had become a habit recently and made working together much easier and much more productive, even though it sometimes deepened the frowns on Derek and Scott’s faces.

“Ha! Finally someone who supports me here!” Stiles grinned and snatched the book from Derek, to cradle it protectively against his chest. “Privacy, sourwolf, it’s a thing that exist, even if werewolves have never heard of it.”

Derek simply huffed, turned around and walked off, apparently done with their conversation. A second later, they could hear him gather plates in the kitchen, probably to prepare for the large amount of takeout Boyd would return with any minute now. Despite being -literary- raised by wolves, the young alpha was particularly insistent on his beta using tableware, which may or may not be based on Peter’s annoyed sighs, every time somebody ate out of a takeaway box or used a napkin to hold their pizza slice.

“What are you reading anyways? Has Deaton finally given you something to improve your spark abilities with? I could offer you much better literature regarding magic, you should come over sometime, I can…enlighten you in many ways.” Peter was suddenly right next to him, almost whispering the words into his ear.

Stiles shivered and took a deep breath, trying to fight the spike of arousal in his groin.

“No, Deaton still hasn’t given me anything, he says I need to wait until my magic is stable,” Stiles rolled his eyes at that.  

“What a fool that man is.” Peter sighed and then plucked the book right out of Stiles’ hand with a teasing smirk. He sat down on the couch, ignoring the human’s noise of protest.

His mesmerizing blue eyes flickered over the cover, before he stilled. For the first time, Peter looked like he was startled. Something Stiles never thought he’d see. Erica seemed just as perplexed, because she arched one eyebrow in surprise.

Was it the fact that Stiles liked to read fantasy-romance novels? Well, when living a life filled with supernatural crap that tried to kill you, sometimes, it was nice to read something about supernatural creatures living in peace, helping each other and fighting united against the bad guys. For the most part at least.

Peter looked up and there was a grin on his face, not necessarily a smirk, but then again, the bastard looked so damn pleased with himself and Stiles really needed to get his body under control because that expression did _not_ help his racing heart.  

“ _’Vengeance Of Fire’_.” Peter mused and arched one eyebrow. “Quite the dramatic title. What about the other 5 parts of the series, are the titles equally theatrical?” His eyes ranked over the book cover. “Lee P. Raeth, _‘bestselling author’_ , was he on the New York Times bestseller list? Because everybody is a bestselling author nowadays, the title means next to nothing.” He turned the book over and read the back, where there were countless quotes from well-known magazines, newspapers, publishing houses and other authors, all praising the book. “He certainly seems to be loved by the press.”

“Well, he is a genius.” Stiles threw himself onto the couch next to Peter.

“If you say so.” Peter returned the book to him, face still inquisitive. He had a pondering expression in his eyes. “If you had the chance to talk to him, what would you say?” His question surprised Stiles.

For a moment, he thought about it. It was an impossible scenario, since Raeth had never shown his face and never attended any public events; it wasn’t even known if it was just a pen name, but if he could meet him…

“I’d tell him about my mom. How much she loved his books and how she read them to me. And I would poke and prod about all the different couples and all the theories I’ve already come up with, regarding the nature of Voids.” Stiles smiled a little. He would have to wait for the next book for his questions to be answered. Hopefully the author wouldn’t wait another six years. “And then I’d proclaim my undying love and he’d file a restraining order.” He joked, but Peter didn’t chuckle.

Instead, when he glanced at the man, he wore a soft, almost tender expression on his face, which made Stiles squirm.

“What?” He asked, blushing slightly. So, he had a crush on the guy’s mind, sue him.

“Nothing, I just think that he would be very happy to hear about your mom.” The wolf remarked honestly, surprising Stiles. “And I doubt he would file a restraining order, just because of one little confession. Who knows, perhaps he’s a very handsome man, who gets confessed to regularly? He might even ask you out.”

Stiles snorted. “Psh, you’re just saying that because you like me. No need to spare my feelings, dude, I might fancy him a bit, but I’m not delusional enough to think he might like me back. Besides, he’s probably a man in his forties with a wife and two point five kids.”

“So, I like you now? What gave you that idea?” Peter had arched one eyebrow elegantly.

“Well, you always get me food before the rest of the pack can chomp everything down, forgetting about their token human. Also, you break into my room and leave me snacks at least twice a week and since none of it is poisoned, you at least tolerate me.” He grinned. Admittedly, for a while he had thought it was Scott leaving him all the goodies, but his best friend had denied it. Then he had put up a camera to find out who exactly broke into his room all the time. When it turned out to be Peter, he had his best friend sniff all the snacks to look for poison for approximately two weeks, before he decided that they were safe to eat.

“Who knows, maybe I’m just trying to get your trust and then poison you.” Peter grinned a wolfish grin, but it didn’t impress Stiles. He opened his mouth to bicker back, when the back door flung open and Scott stumbled into the house, holding up a very bloody, very pale Isaac, who was slumped against the other beta.

Fuck.

 

* * *

 

 

Stiles hated witches. They weren’t sweet old ladies, who used their magic to grow beautiful flowers and had a nice cat, they weren’t badass, highly intelligent girls with a badass wand either, they were women of all ages and races, but had one thing in common: they were nasty, evil bastards.

Their spell work almost always required some sort of disgusting ritual involving blood sacrifices, bones and all kinds of gruesome stuff that would make normal people gag and they never used their powers for good.

And this witch was no exception.

After attacking Isaac and Scott while the two betas were out on patrol, she started to steal pets for her rituals to an extent, where Stiles’ dad had a hard time using the good ol’ mountain lion excuse. A few years ago, Derek might’ve been dumb enough to simply attack her, but thankfully the wolf had slowly turned into a very good alpha, who didn’t dive headfirst into dangerous situations he couldn’t handle, anymore.

Instead, he decided to read up as much as possible about witches and their weaknesses, when they were the most powerful and what could reverse their spells, should she cast one on one of the wolves.

Well, he ordered Stiles and Peter to read up on witches, mainly because Peter was the one with the large collection on books and scripts regarding everything supernatural and because the older Hale only tolerated Stiles touching them.

So, there they were, sitting in Peter’s domain in the new Hale house, going through everything he had on witches. After rebuilding their burnt down home, Peter had claimed the entire third floor for himself. Apparently, it had been his realm before the fire as well, and Derek didn’t argue about it.

Stiles loved Peter’s rooms. It was almost an attic apartment really, with a very open floor plan, his own living room and study, another set of stairs leading to his bedroom and tasteful accents. There were skylights in the pitched roof high above their heads, beautiful polished beams and large windows in the walls overlooking the Hale land and it was entirely sound proof, so they could work without being disturbed by the other betas, who wouldn’t know how to be quiet to save their life.

With a thick leather book in his hands, written centuries ago, Stiles was sitting on the white couch in Peter’s domain, trying to diffuse the dated English dialect, while Peter was hunched over an antique scripture in Russian. It came in handy, that Peter was multilingual, even though his ancient Greek and Hebrew were a little rusty.

They had been working for hours already, but with the threat present, neither of them could afford to stop now. Not if there was a witch running around Beacon Hills, wreaking havoc. Even though she had only sacrificed animals yet, the next step would be humans, most likely children, and nobody wanted to risk letting it get that far.

Stiles yawned and rubbed his tired eyes. He was fighting against his sleepiness and slowly loosing the battle. He startled, when Peter suddenly put his reading glasses -which Stiles definitely didn’t have a kink for- down and got up.

“Stay here, I’ll make us coffee.” The man offered, ruffling Stiles hair as he passed the couch and the human smiled gratefully.

“You’re a man after my own heart.” He exclaimed and heard Peter chuckle, before the door closed behind him, indicating that the Hale was on his way downstairs to the kitchen.

Stiles focused on the book again, but eventually snapped it shut. While it described witchcraft with an incredible amount of detail, it focused on healing spells based on herbs and how to find and grow them. He would definitely study it once they had dealt with the witch, because he had a spark after all and why not use it to heal his pack quicker and stretched his body languidly. He put the book on the couch table and wiggled his toes.

With a sigh, he pushed himself off the couch and onto his feet. His head rushed for a second, making spots dance before his eyes, but he shook it off and stumbled through Peter’s living room, towards his office. Stiles was the only one who Peter allowed to step into his holy alcove, and to say he didn’t feel honored would be a lie. Peter’s office was a wet dream. Floor to ceiling bookcases covered three walls, filled to the brim with books. And not just regular books; no, those were kept in the Hale library on the ground floor. Peter kept a huge collection of ancient books and scripts in here. There were originals written centuries ago, others were newer translations and a good part of it were books written by Hales, dating back to the 16th century and covering almost every supernatural creature in existence. Stiles had been speechless, when he had discovered that a handful of thick books had been written by Peter, focused on phoenixes, dragons, mermaids, vampires, fucking unicorns and of course, werewolves. As soon as they had dealt with the witch, Stiles would hole himself up in Peter’s office and read all of them! He had already told the Hale about his plans, who had promised him to let him read whatever he wanted with an amused chuckle. After he had finished _Vengeance of Fire_ , of course.

He opened the door and a surge of air hit him in the face. Cursing, he quickly slipped into the office and closed the door again, but it had already happened. The powerful draft through the slightly open window had blown it open with full force, pushing a wooden statue and two folders off the window still and onto the ground.

“Oh crap.” Stiles mumbled and quickly started to gather everything up, before the wolf could return. Hopefully nothing had been ruined, because the books in here were priceless and as much as Peter humored Stiles, everybody had their limit.

Stiles quickly tried closed the window, while trying to juggle the two folders. They were thick and heavy, filled to the brim with papers. He managed to lock the window, but one of the folders slipped and landed on the floor with a thud. Cursing, he put the other one on the window still, before he bent down to pick it up. A loose paper had fluttered out of it, so he opened the cover to put it back.

He really didn’t want to poke his nose into the wolf’s business, and he had honestly just intended to put the paper back, but his eyes couldn’t help but flicker over the first page in the folder. He almost dropped it in shock.

The printed text was covered with notes written with a bright, red pen.

“Too long, shorten sentence.”, “Disturbs the flow.”, “Write again.”, “Cut out; doesn’t harmonize with rest”, “Add character name, unclear who is talking.”.

It was an edited manuscript. But not just any manuscript, because he recognized the writing style and the characters immediately. Ash, Alexander, Joshua; the mention of _Voids_ and _Seekers_ … this was a manuscript of the _Seeker’s Souls_ series. And not just any manuscript, because Stiles knew every single line like the back of his hand, and this was yet to be published. He turned the folder around and read the back of the spine.

_“SS; Book 7; Sorrow of Ashes”_

No way. There was no fucking way…

“Stiles?” He heard Peter’s voice in the living room and quickly closed the folder again. Hastily, he put it back on the window still, grabbed a random book about witches out of the bookcase and fled out of the office. His heart was racing in his chest and he could feel sweat build at the palm of his hands. His mind was racing.... could it be?

Peter was sitting on the couch again, two cups of steaming coffee on the couch table. He frowned, probably because he could hear Stiles' heart racing. "Are you alright?" He asked, slightly concerned and irritated, and Stiles quickly nodded.

“Yes, sure. I'm fine, absolutely fine. Never been better, really." His voice was meremly a squeak, so Stiles quickly cleared his throat. "I've just found a very good book about witches and spells so I'm pretty excited." He was begging every possible entity that the lie couldn't be heard due to his already stumbling heart beat. 

Peter's eyes flickered to the book in his hands and he raised one eyebrow amusedly. " _Lady Amanda's Collection of Love Spells_? How will that help us?" The wolf asked, slightly confused, and Stiles wanted to facepalm. Out of all the books in there...

"Well, you never know." he replied weakly and thankfully, Peter dropped the subject with a small snort.

As Stiles sat down on the couch next to the man and opened the book, there was one question on his mind.

Was Peter Lee P. Raeth?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are you saying that you think this Raeth guy is on the same level as a woman who wrote a teenage love story about vampires?” Peter sounded personally offended and Stiles’ lips twitched.   
> If he hadn't been sure that Peter was Raeth, he would be now.   
> “Nah, like I said, he’s my favorite. And he came up with the idea of Voids and Seekers, instead of repurposing other supernatural creatures. But I have to admit that Joshua is very similar to Edward in some ways. Do you think Raeth is a twilight fan?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I extended the story to 3 instead of 2 chapters, but that will be it. I'm not planning on turning this into a huge project.  
> Usually, I'm more the type to write series than multi chaptered stories, but that doesn't work with this story.
> 
> Anyways, thanks to all of you who read the first chapter and a special thanks to those who suprised me with a comment, kudos or bookmark.

“You can stay over, if you want. You have your own room here and even if you didn’t, I wouldn’t mind sharing my bed with you.” Peter mumbled, as he led Stiles to his jeep. The lack of seductiveness in his voice was a testament of how tired he was. The dark circles under his eyes matched Stiles own and even the many cups of coffee had now lost their effect.

Stiles hoped he would make it into his bed before the caffeine crash hit him, but he felt safe enough to drive home. “Thanks, but I want to catch my dad before he leaves for work to keep him up to date with the witch situation. And my bed misses me.” He mumbled, as he climbed into his car.

Peter eyed him with a look Stiles couldn’t quite decipher, then he nodded his head and closed the jeep door. “Alright, drive safe. And if you notice anything strange…”

“I know; I’ll immediately call wolf and run away. Or hit the gas in this situation.” He ticked off and Peter smiled.

“Good boy.” He reached through the open driver’s window and ruffled Stiles’ hair, before he took a step back.

“Don’t call me that.” Stiles grumbled and started his jeep, hoping the darkness hid the blush that spread across his cheeks. “I’ll see you in…” He glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Almost 6 am. “In 6 hours. I just need some sleep, a shower and a meal.” Stiles decided and drove off, once Peter agreed.

He hadn’t lied to Peter, he really wanted to talk to his dad, but he could’ve done so over the phone. Another reason he wanted to go home, was so he could finally deal with the one thought that wouldn’t stop circling his head.

What was that manuscript doing in Peter’s office?

Stiles drove home on auto pilot, something he definitely wouldn’t tell his dad about because it would just encourage the Sheriff to give his son a little repetition of the talk about awareness and driving, which he had been given before a week before he got his driver’s license. It had included a lot of gruesome pictures and the whole “DUI” talk.

He climbed -or rather fell- out of his jeep and it took him three tries until he managed to unlock the door. The smell of coffee and toast greeted him, but after all the coffee he already had, it wasn’t tempting the slightest. Instead, he felt a little sick.

“Is that you, kiddo?” His father shouted from the kitchen, and Stiles followed his voice.

“Morning dad.” He yawned and immediately got a judging look from the sheriff. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t too tired to drive. I just wanted to catch you before your shift.” Stiles quickly swore, which made the sheriff perk up.

“Anything new about the witch?” He asked, forgetting about his cup of decaf coffee and the whole wheat toast.

“We’ve narrowed a few things down, but we’re not quite ready to try and take her down. I’ll go back to the Hale house later today, hoping we’ll find a way to strip her off her powers or break the spells she might cast on the wolves, immediately.” He snatched himself the slice of toast, ignoring his dad’s protest.

“Alright kiddo. You should try and get some sleep; you look like you need it.” His father pressed a quick kiss on his forehead and Stiles saluted playfully.

“Yes sir.” He mumbled and made his way upstairs. He forced himself to brush his teeth and take off his clothes, instead of just falling into bed, and once he was really, he was gone the second his head touched his pillow.

-

 

He woke up, hours later, in a small puddle of drool and with a protesting bladder. Groaning, he wiped his mouth and glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It was already after one pm, he had totally overslept.

Quickly, Stiles grabbed his phone, ready to call Peter or Derek, to apologize and reassure them that he hadn’t been kidnapped, so there was no need for them to send out a search party, when he noticed the text message from Erica.

‘ _Don’t worry about oversleeping, sleepyhead. I stopped by your house during my patrol and told the others you were still out like a light. Take your time. Also, you drool.’_

Stiles snorted and stretched his body languidly. Since the others knew that he wasn’t tied up somewhere in the preserve, about to serve as an unwilling sacrifice, he decided to take his time. He took a very thorough shower, cooked lunch and put the leftovers into a box in the fridge for his dad to heat up when he came back from work, took care of the laundry and even hoovered his room. Eventually, though, he couldn’t procrastinate anymore. He needed to face his mind…

So, he booted his laptop up, grabbed a bag of skittles and took out a notepad. He chewed on the back of his pen, while he thought about Peter and the folder. Then he typed in Lee P. Raeth into the google search engine and pressed enter.

It wasn’t the first time that he googled that particular name. In fact, it had always piqued his curiosity who exactly the author was. But there were no pictures, no dates regarding his age, no locations where he might’ve grown up, nothing about his family status or his education. It was a mystery.

After an hour relentlessly clicking himself through hundreds of websites, he closed all tabs with a frustrated huff. Nothing, there was absolutely nothing about the author anywhere. Sure, there were forums dedicated to his identity, entire threads with rumors who he might be. After all, S _eeker’s Souls_ was one of the most popular fantasy romance series of the current time, but there was no hard evidence who might’ve written it anywhere.

Some people were convinced it was a group of ghost writers, others talked about other well-known authors writing under a second name, such as J.K. Rowling, while a small group even claimed that there were aliens involved. A handful of people, in a forum entirely supernatural dedicated forum were even convinced, that Raeth had to be a supernatural creature to have that much knowledge about the supernatural world, even breaking some creature’s stereotypes so they were more realistic. The thread was filled with skeptics, who said these claims were absolutely ridiculous since there were no such things as supernatural and mythological creatures.

But it did pique Stiles’ mind. They were right, the series did include a very accurate description of mythical creatures and even the few scenes with mentioned spell work were scarily authentic. Sure, there was always a little twist in the Latin translations, or an herb had been replaced by another one, making it ineffective, but he had always thought those were just funny coincidences.

If the author really had a vast knowledge about supernatural beings… if he knew that werewolves, fairies, fauns and mermaids weren’t just fairy tales, then it would have to be someone supernatural themselves. Someone who knew a lot about witchcraft and spell work, about runes and herbs, rituals and the limits of every creature’s power. The only person Stiles knew with so much knowledge was Peter.

But maybe they were other supernatural creatures like Peter out there. Maybe one of them had written the books.

_One is an incident, as his dad liked to say._

Then there was the 7-year break. The fifth book of the series had come out two weeks before the Hale fire. Before that, the author had published one book per year, so it had been quite the surprise, when the following year, nothing came. Or the year after, until _Cannonics_ had officially stated that Raeth would take a break for an unknown amount of time. And now, almost 8 years after the fire, just about 1 ½  years since Peter woke up and a year past his resurrection and clear mind, it was very much possible for the timelines to add up.

If he had returned to working on his books within the past year and a half… knowing Peter, the man had probably already had his progress from before the fire saved somewhere and could just continue finishing a half-written book.

And sitting in a wheelchair for 6 years gave him a lot of time to continue thinking about his story… before he lost his mind, of course.

It certainly would explain the gap between the last two published books.

Then again, it could just be that the real Raeth had a long writers block or that the ghost writer decided to quit, and they needed to find a new one, that there were difficulties with the publishers so they cut him off for a while…

But still, it was still a strong possibility.

_Two is a coincidence._

Absentmindedly, he scribbled around on his notebook.

Lee P. Raeth…

He wrote the name again and again.

How would Peter have gotten his hands on an unpublished manuscript? Stiles had never asked what the man’s job was before the Hale fire and since Peter wasn’t working now, having enough money to let it work for itself, he had just thought that it had always been like that. And who knew, maybe it had, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t done something in his life.

And Peter had written books about the supernatural. They were scientific rather than fictional, but it did prove that the man had a talent for writing.

Maybe he wasn’t the author but the editor? But the red handwriting on the printed script had been too messy and scrawl-y to be Peter’s. The man wrote like he was holding a calligraphy pen, which never failed to impress Stiles.

_Three is a pattern…_

Lee P. Raeth…

He stopped and stared at the name he had scribbled numerous times across the page.

Suddenly it was almost ridiculously obvious.

Lee P. Raeth… Peter Hale.

It was an anagram.  And not even a good one.

**Four is evidence.**

He dropped his pen.

-

Two hours later, Stiles was jittering his knee, as he drove back to the Hale house. He had spent about an hour pacing in his room, trying to buy himself some time before he had to come face to face with Peter again. He was anxious because it was pretty much impossible to hide anything from werewolves and his inner turmoil wouldn’t go unnoticed. And then they would ask questions and hear his lies. And Peter was smart enough to quickly figure out that Stiles knew something he shouldn’t.

Also; while he was about 99,99% sure, that Peter was his favorite author of all time, there was still a slight chance he wasn’t. He chewed his bottom lip until it felt raw and swollen. Who was he kidding? Peter had to be Raeth, there was no other rational explanation.

Stiles had decided to deal with it the easiest way. He wouldn’t confront Peter, he would just pretend nothing had changed. So, he had Vengeance of Fire stashed in his backpack, because he still hadn’t finished it yet, due to the witch causing havoc, and he really needed to know how the story progressed. And should they find out how to defeat the witch today, he could totally continue reading his _precious_ while the pack took care of the witch.

A year ago, he would’ve insisted on being there and doing his best to keep up with the wolves, but after an accident that knocked him out and in return had distracted the wolves so much that they had almost lost the fight and Erica had almost bled to death, Stiles had been benched for three months. During that time, he had realized, that by getting more and more control over his spark, he would be a much more useful asset than if he tried to go against supernatural creatures, only swinging a baseball bat.

The path to the Hale house was long and winded, but today it felt like it only took him seconds until he had parked in front of the rebuilt house and was now forced to face Peter again. It would be of no use to keep sitting in the car, it would only make the pack suspicious, so he grabbed his backpack and climbed out of his jeep.

When he entered the house, he was greeted by Boyd, who prepared himself a fantastic looking sandwich in the large kitchen.

“Where are the others?” Stiles asked and stole himself half of it from wolf, who only rolled his eyes and pushed the plate towards Stiles, to make himself a new one.

“Out on patrol. Derek doesn’t want us to go into the preserve on our own, so we only go in groups now.” He explained, as he started to stack another sandwich.

“And Peter?” Stiles heart leapt in his chest, but Boyd didn’t comment on it.

“Upstairs, still trying to figure out how to deal with the witch.”

“Thanks man.” He grabbed his plate and hurried upstairs. Stiles felt a little guilty that he had left all the research to Peter, just so he could freak out at home. But now he was back and ready to help again.

He found Peter sitting on the couch, with his glasses on, an empty plate on the coffee table and a tome in his hands. The book _Lady Amanda’s Collection of Love Spells_ was waiting for Stiles, a little marker pushed in between the pages, where he had stopped reading yesterday.

“Are you feeling better?” Peter said, as soon as Stiles entered the room.

“Yes, sorry that I’m only back now, I slept in.” He apologized sheepishly and took another bite from his sandwich. He would polish it off quickly before touching any of Peter’s books, because even Stiles wasn’t allowed to eat and read the priceless tomes at the same time.

“Don’t be; your body needed to rest.” Peter mumbled, as he turned another page carefully. The frown on his face unnerved Stiles. Clearly, the beta was frustrated that they hadn’t found anything useful yet and when dealing with rouge witches, time was precious. They needed to make progress and figure out a solution today.

“Well, now I’m back.” His words were muffled around the last bite of sandwich and once he had cleaned his fingers on a napkin, he picked up the spell book again.

“Are you sure you’ll find something useful in there?” Peter asked, slightly amused, and he was probably right, but Stiles simply shrugged.

“You never know.” He said and paged through the book until he found the reading marker, he had left in there the night before. He could feel Peter’s doubtful eyes staring at him, but he did his best to ignore the wolf and focus on the dated English spell in front of him.

Another hour in companionable silence passed, only disturbed by Boyd knocking on the door to leave them some drinks and Peter switching his tome for another even older looking one, until Stiles suddenly perked up.

“What is it?” Peter inquired, curiously, and abandoned his book in favor of staring at Stiles.

“I know why this spell seems so familiar.” Stiles babbled, excitedly. “In the third book of the _Seeker’s Souls_ Series, there’s a spell like this. Sure, one or two words are translated differently and one of the herbs has been switched so it’s useless, but it’s the exact same one.” He hunched over the book, eyes flying over the page.

Peter didn’t look convinced. “Stiles, you’re aware that these books are just fiction, right?” He asked gently, and for a moment Stiles was tempted to believe that Peter really wasn’t the one behind them all.

“I know, but they were written by someone with excessive knowledge of the supernatural world. And I trust him.” He said softly and Peter’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “And it makes sense when you look at the aftermath of it all. The spell itself is harmless, unless the one who is supposed to be bewitched has already found their true love. If so, the caster of the spell will experience a heartbreak like no other.” He explained. “The aftermath is described perfectly in book three, where a character loses her mind because of the spell’s backlash. Her beloved already has found his true love and in her desperation, she turns to dark magic, which includes the exact same sacrificial magic we’re now dealing with. She’s trying to increase her power. Very powerful witches are able to alter minds, so if she manipulates the mind of her beloved to the extent that he forgets about his true love, she can use the original spell again. But there’s almost nothing stronger than the purest form of love, so she’ll need more sacrifices. It all makes sense.” He gushed and Peter was suddenly intrigued.

“It does make sense.” He mulled and glanced over Stiles’ shoulder at the spell.

“I know, right?” Stiles grinned. “And now we can figure out how to deal with her. Witches are difficult to defeat because they have their guards up, but our witch is emotional. She’s acting on impulse and with a good strategy, we should be able to take her out. She will focus on offense rather than defense, her only goal is to get more power to alter some poor fool’s mind and she’ll be so overwhelmed by her heartbreak, that she won’t be able to defend herself against a well-organized attack. She’s just not thinking clearly and that’s our advantage. And I would bet that her magic is unstable.”

Peter was quiet for a moment, then he nodded his head. “You could be right; we should talk to Derek.”

-

Two hours later, Stiles was chewing on his bottom lip nervously. After he had presented his research to the pack, they had spent an hour trying to come up with a fool proof strategy on how to take her out. The pack would split up; Erica and Isaac, the most agile ones, would distract the witch, by pretending to attack her. They had the biggest chance of dodging whatever magic she would fire at them, while the rest of the pack would use her distraction to eliminate her from behind.

There had been a heated discussion about whether or not to kill her, but eventually even Scott had realized, that there was no other way. The witch had lost her mind and dark magic poisoned the soul forever. No matter how harmless she once was, she would never be able to recover from the darkness that had corrupted her mind and heart.

Stiles had been left behind with Boyd, just in case. He would’ve preferred to have Peter with him, but the oldest Hale was also the quickest runner and had the best chance of ripping her throat out while she was distracted, so he was their greatest advantage and couldn’t stay behind to keep an eye on Stiles.

But he was glad to have Boyd, who was a calming presence and would feel if something was wrong. The beta was sitting in the living room, zapping through different sport channels on the huge TV they had forced Derek to buy, while Stiles was pacing in the kitchen. Boyd was also the only one who wasn’t annoyed about Stiles’ restlessness and constant urge to move.

When the wolf perked up, Stiles’ heart seized in his chest, then the back door opened, and the pack stumbled inside. Derek was holding an unconscious Erica in his arms; Isaac’s left arm was held in place by a makeshift sling that had once been his T-Shirt, Scott looked unscathed while Peter’s V neck shirt was covered in blood.

“What happened?” Stiles squeaked immediately and hovered next to Derek, who had put Erica on the couch. She wasn’t bleeding, except for a small cut on her forehead, and it didn’t look like any of her bones were broken, but it unsettled Stiles to see her so pale and motionless.

“The witch flung her against a tree. She’s alright but still knocked out.” Isaac explained and winced when the alpha unfastened the sling holding his unnaturally bent arm.

“This will hurt.” Derek said through clenched teeth and quickly set the beta’s bone straight, before the healing would force him to break Isaac’s arm again, because it didn’t heal properly.

Isaac moaned softly and clenched his eyes, but immediately relaxed when Derek started to leech his pain.

Boyd was taking care of Erica, tending to small cut on her forehead that had almost healed, while Stiles was focusing on Peter. The man looked like hell and he was worried some of the blood covering the wolf could be his own.

“Are you hurt?” He asked nervously, hands fluttering over Peter’s body, trying to find a gashing wound that needed to be tended to.

“Don’t worry, dear, I’m unharmed.” Peter wiped his hands on a handkerchief, but it was futile. He wouldn’t get rid of all that blood taking a long, thorough shower. And those clothes were definitely ruined.

“Good. Did you kill her?”

“Yes. You were right. She had attempted to perform the love spell and it backfired. Looks like the author of those books of yours isn’t as empty headed as this godforsaken woman, who decided vampires needed to sparkle.” Peter snorted and Stiles’ eyes narrowed.

“Hey, twilight was a goddamn good book that was totally ruined by that awful movie. Monsters are re-interpreted all the time and I would much rather deal with sparkling, vegetarian vampires than with a crazy with or those goddamn pixies two weeks ago.” He sniffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

Peter shook his head. “Suddenly I’m questioning your literary taste. Are you saying that you think this Raeth guy is on the same level as a woman who wrote a teenage love story about vampires?” He sounded personally offended and Stiles’ lips twitched.

If he hadn't been sure that Peter was Raeth, he would be now.

“Nah, like I said, he’s my favorite. And he came up with the idea of _Voids_ and _Seekers_ , instead of repurposing other supernatural creatures. But I have to admit that Joshua is very similar to Edward in some ways. Do you think Raeth is a _twilight_ fan?”

The expression on Peter’s face was hilarious and Stiles had to bury his nails in the palms of his hands to keep himself from laughing.

“We will end this conversation here, before I'll commit another murder in a sudden episode of sudden insanity; because that will happen if you keep comparing this Raeth guy to the woman behind sparkling vampires. And I need a shower to get the stink of that witch off me.” He shuddered almost delicately and pushed past Stiles, towards the staircase. For a moment, the human hoovered in the living room, uncertain about whether or not to go after Peter or stay with the rest of the pack, but when he saw that Erica had regained consciousness and was talking quietly and intimately with Boyd, while Derek was still taking Isaac’s pain and Scott busy talking to Allison on the phone, he turned on his heels, grabbed his backpack and followed Peter up the stairs.

The wolf’s shower was already running as Stiles entered the older Hale’s private rooms, so he threw himself on the comfortable couch and stared at the high ceiling. He hated the uncertainty of not knowing whether or not he was right about Peter being the man behind _Seeker’s Souls_. It kept bugging him; like an itch he couldn’t scratch that slowly drove him mad.

Sighing, Stiles sat up again and pulled _Vengeance of Fire_ out of his backpack.

Time to find out whether or not his favorite Hale was also his favorite author.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still here? Liked it?
> 
> If yes, please consider leaving a comment, kudos or bookmark! The next chapter will follow soon.
> 
> And if you're new, please consider reading my other Steter works, maybe you'll find something else you'll like as well. I try to update regularily and don't worry, none of my works are abandoned!
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you'll read the next chapter as well!
> 
> xx

**Author's Note:**

> Still here? Liked it?
> 
> If yes, please consider leaving a comment, kudos, bookmark or maybe even subscribe to the series.
> 
> And if you're new, please consider reading my other Steter works, maybe you'll find something else you'll like as well. I try to update regularily and don't worry, none of my works are abandoned!
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you'll read the next chapter as well!
> 
> xx


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